News

Berkeley: Street harassment turns violent early Sunday

By Daniel M. Jimenez Bay Area News Group

Posted:
03/05/2013 08:47:48 AM PST

Updated:
03/05/2013 08:59:12 AM PST

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Aaron Carmona, 23, was arrested Sunday morning after police said he and another man attacked two men who asked them to stop harassing women near a late-night restaurant. (UC Berkeley Police Department)

BERKELEY -- An incident of street harassment turned violent Sunday morning when two men who asked to two others to stop bothering a pair of women were instead attacked by the suspects, police said.

Police found and arrested two men -- Aaron Raphael Carmona, 23, and Sean Carter, 26.

The assault was reported about 1:37 a.m. near the Top Dog restaurant, a popular late-night hangout just south of the UC Berkeley campus. Two men and two women were walking separately near the restaurant when two other men began harassing the women, according to a statement from UC Berkeley police.

The male victims asked the men to stop; instead, the suspects began punching them, police said. One of the suspects picked up a plastic milk carton and began hitting one of the men with it, while the other suspect threw a milk carton at one of the women, striking her on the leg.

UC police arrived on the scene, and the suspects attempted to escape. Police arrested one man in the parking lot, and found the other hiding in a car nearby. The victims were treated at the scene for facial injuries suffered in the attack.

Carmona was in custody at Santa Rita Jail on $10,000 bail on suspicion of battery and obstructing a police officer. Carter's charge and bail information was not available on the jail website.